Politically Incorrect

Politically
Incorrect
Abhinav Tyagi

“Today's problems cannot be solved if we still think the way we thought when we
created them”

- Albert Einstein -

Preface
Being obsessive compulsive can be good or bad. In my case,
hopefully, it has yielded a positive outcome. Born to an
economist father and a historian mother, I was brought up with
the values of social justice and idealism. It was not as much
about my parents’ educational backgrounds but about their value
systems that I have witnessed till date. They have never ever
preached anything but I have mostly seen them do the right
things. It is only when I started living alone and traveled to a
few places that I began to have issues with my own internal
beliefs. I was not able to reconcile how my parents lived their
lives, with how a lot of other people did. Till the day I lived
with my parents, I (naively) thought that everyone else leads
his/her life the same way. I was about to rise to a rude
awakening. As I interacted with people from various walks of
life, such as, business owners, corporate managers, farmers,
doctors, engineers, scientists, marines, policemen, traders,
artists, motivational speakers, event planners, restaurateurs,
entrepreneurs, academicians, policy makers, students, office
clerks, socialites, car mechanics, housemaids, investment
bankers, financial advisors, Wall street thought leaders,
ministers (religious), software programmers, authors, sports
persons, cab drivers, postmen, vegetable vendors, air
stewardess, radio jockeys and lawyers, I started becoming aware
of the realities of life. This interaction provided me a 360-
degree view of our society and the world, at large. Even though,
at times, the tone of this book may seem politically incorrect
(and even idealistic), it may be noted that I have not
discounted my interactions with a variety of folks in all kinds
of places. The idea is to accurately communicate the ground
problems and offer solutions without biases and adulterations.
This book caters primarily to young students in colleges (and
universities) and hopes to inspire a sense of awareness of and
responsibility towards the world we live in. It does not cater
to any special interest groups, organizations or institutions.

I sincerely hope and believe that this book will also strike
cords with folks from different walks of life who through their
life experiences have developed certain value systems, and this
book should provide structure and a voice to their thoughts.
Neither am I an expert on the topics discussed in the book nor

do I claim to be one, but the book tries to develop a holistic
understanding of our world, its people and its institutions, and
also tries to explore out-of-the-box solutions to some of the
global issues we face today. This book was not authored in a
library of an Ivy League school or a cozy corporate office or
even a political leader's mansion. The meat for this book,
instead, is derived by interacting with people from different
cultures, nationalities, professions, age groups, social &
economic strata and societal groups (activists, military etc).
The book has made a sincere effort to reflect the feelings,
thoughts and ideas of the above mentioned people and of course,
the author.
Those who have a restless energy in them that keeps nudging them
to speak their hearts out, to make this world a better place,
should find a great outlet to their thoughts and feelings
through this book. If this book is able to reinforce, in even
one individual, an obsession for social justice and an
inspiration for building a more peaceful and progressive world,
I would consider this book a success. I also hope to reach out
to the wealthy and the powerful, to encourage them to pro
actively involve themselves with making this world a better
place.
Throughout the book, I have tried to be as objective and concise
as possible and avoided any real world examples that would
invite any unnecessary controversies. This book is not a
diatribe or a preaching manual (I am myself a work-in-progress)
but a sincere effort has been made to cut to the chase and put
things in black and white without worrying about political
correctness.
I hope that this book can resonate with you and help you develop
a more holistic perspective of our world, its people and its
institutions. The book does not claim to offer any earth-
shattering information but is a humble effort to inspire,
provoke and rally change in your perspective, on our world and
on your role in it. You (the reader) are the most important
entity and I hope you will find this book thoughtful. Thanks in
advance for reading.
With warm regards,
Abhinav Tyagi

Acknowledgements
Inspiration for this book came from the two years spent on the
idyllic University of Maine campus and the terrific people I met
there. That environment helped me to assimilate my experiences
during the years of my under and un employment. My parents and
sister also helped me with the necessary encouragement and stood
by me during those difficult years. Genuine appreciation and
valuable guidance accorded by Honbl. Nicholas P. Heymann, an
alumnus of my school (and a very well respected Wall Street
Analyst), during my years at the University of Maine, was also
instrumental in making this venture possible. Last but not the
least, this book is also very much a result of the free spirit
of self expression that is the essence of United States of
America, and which leaves no one with an open mind, untouched.

CONTENTS

1. Creators, Operators, Mediators and Talkers
2. Duality in human existence
3. Water is the new Oil
4. Energy: Elixir of Economy
5. Healthcare
6. Education
7. Microfinance: The quiet revolution that is about to take off
8. Decentralized development: An engine for equitable growth
9. The Fiber of Prosperity
10. Global Youth: Opportunity or Threat?
11. If the environment is screwed nothing else really matters
12. Don't do charity
13. Specialize for Peace
14. Re inventing the Government Administrative machinery
15. Re Branding the Government
16. Measuring Government Performance
17. Its all about Political Will
18. Accountability, Accountability, Accountability
19. The Right Cabinet
20. Building Value Systems Top Down
21. The concept of Nations, Democracy & Power
22. Credits where they are due
23. Bare your soul
24. What is Success?
25. Integrity is Integrated
26. Lets do it Now!

Quick Brush up on the Chapters
The book is not at all meant as a preaching guidebook or a diatribe.
We have lot of such stuff out there and no one wants to read another
piece. It simply tries to put together some of the ground realities
and issues that we face, globally, and hopefully will inspire you to
think about these issues more holistically. The findings presented in
the book are derived from my numerous interactions with a variety of
people, my readings of a variety of subjects, and my own thought
system developed as a result of my experiences (both failed and
successful) over the last 11 years. The book emphasizes the role &
importance of Government(s) in tackling some of these issues.

I begin by categorization of people based on their key skills &
professions. The second chapter talks about the widening split
between the 'haves' and 'have-nots'. The following six chapters deal
with the issues of water, energy, healthcare, education, micro credit
and decentralized development. Ninth chapter emphasizes the critical
role an optical fiber network can play, as a facilitating
infrastructure for other initiatives. The following chapter discusses
the role of youth in shaping our tomorrow.

Eleventh chapter reminds us of the importance of environment as the
most precious asset of our planet. The next chapter denounces
'charity' – both the usage of the word as well as the moral hazard it
brings with it. The following chapter makes a case for specialization
of countries in achieving world peace.

The next seven chapters talk about deficiencies in governance systems,
measurement of government performance, ways to re engineer and re
brand the governance, and most crucially the importance of having
suitably qualified people in top political posts, the need for
political will, the need for accountability at every level of
government and the need to lead by example (demonstrating value
systems at the highest level in political leadership). These chapters
are followed by a chapter on the evolving concept of nations,
democracy and power.

The twenty-second chapter is a tribute to those people who work behind
the scenes and who, in reality, are the real heroes of society. The
chapter is followed by a call to all corporate folks to begin to
contribute to the society that has given them so much. The next two
chapters try to define success and integrity.

The final chapter is a request for all readers to begin to think
about, contribute to, or facilitate the endeavors talked elsewhere in
the book. Even an acknowledgement of the issues faced by our world is
a great step in this direction.

Style of communication used in this book is simple, concise (to the
point) and non-diplomatic. I hope you enjoy reading this book!!

1
Creators, Operators,
Mediators and Talkers
“All things will be produced in superior quantity and quality,
and with greater ease, when each man works at a single
occupation, in accordance with his natural gifts, and at the
right moment, without meddling with anything else”
Plato
Greek philosopher & mathematician

Before we try to understand the world, its people and

institutions, it is a useful exercise to try and categorize

people on the basis of their professions/skills. I have

classified people as:

• Creators

• Operators

• Mediators

• Talkers

Creators create. Farmers provide us food; Soldiers and cops

create sense of security; scientists create intellectual

property; entrepreneurs create business systems; engineers

design softwares, structures, machines and equipments; leaders

build and transform teams, organizations and societies; authors

write books, stories and plays; good teachers instill a sense of

enthusiasm among the students, for lifelong learning; musicians

compose music; movie makers conceive screenplays; Visionaries

create and disseminate a vision.

Operators operate and execute Creators' plans and designs. Blue

and white collar workers enable operation of services and

manufacturing units; CEOs and divisional managers help to run

organizations and divisions; doctors help to live us longer and

healthier lives; administrators help to administer policies,

programs and workflow (e.g. civil servants, bureaucrats).

Mediators mediate transactions. Traders mediate buying and

selling of commodities (physical and soft), contracts, financial

instruments; Investment bankers mediate deals between investors

and company owners; Real Estate agents mediate buying and

selling of houses; Recruiters help to match employers with

employees; Diplomats mediate peace processes and treaties;

Judges deliver justice; retailers and wholesalers mediate

distribution of goods; political brokers mediate seat sharing in

legislature and exchange of favors between businessmen and

politicians; Journalists mediate delivery of events & news to

the consumers of those news; teachers facilitate transfer of

education & knowledge to students.

Talkers talk. Yes, that’s precisely what they do. Majority of

politicians are talkers. They are able to convince their

electorate to vote for them in elections, through their

impressive speeches. They leverage imperfect information,

ignorance and sometimes, indifference of people (towards

politics) in their electorate, to win elections. However, there

also exist (albeit few) Political “leaders” who have a vision

and are passionate about the welfare and development of their

electorate. These political “leaders” can be categorized as

Creators because they help to build societies.

2
Duality in Human existence
"The outstanding faults of the economic society in which we live
are its failure to provide for full employment and its arbitrary
and inequitable distribution of wealth and incomes."
John Maynard Keynes
British Economist; Father of Keynesian economics

Sharp contrast in how the rich (and the powerful) live versus

the existence of the poorest, brings to fore the biggest duality

in our human existence. While the rich have got richer, a

significant % of the world population still lives on less than

$2 a day (refer the World poverty distribution maps provided at

the end of the chapter). The following photos can illustrate

this duality better than words.

There are regions in our world where even today there is no

electricity and clean drinking water. Forget telephone and TV.

There are regions where people are forced to eat rats for dinner

even though they are vegetarian by religion (not that a non-

vegetarian would savor rat meat). There are places where

maternal deaths during delivery due to lack of adequate

healthcare facility are a norm. There are places where people

are not aware that they have AIDS, even though the area has a

high incidence of this deadly disease. There are regions with no

hope for a better future, where there are no employment

opportunities, no women rights and no education infrastructure.

The “Ten-Ten” formula

In my opinion, if top 10% of the richest, voluntarily part with

just 10% of their income, the world can change for the better.

The money could:

1) feed all the poor of the earth

2) bring electricity to every home on the planet

3) bring clean drinking water to the entire humanity

4) build schools in all the remote areas of the world

5) provide healthcare to everyone on the planet

Such large-scale voluntary contribution exercise can happen only

if there is a deep sense of responsibility, not only among the

wealthy but people at large, towards the less fortunate. As

Hellen Keller has aptly remarked: “Until the great mass of the

people shall be filled with the sense of responsibility for each

other's welfare, social justice can never be attained.”

It is important to note, however, that the issues discussed

above cannot simply be tackled by pouring in money. Apart from

offering monetary support (in form of aid, charity), it is

important that the wealthy also contribute their talents and

skills to develop the poverty ridden regions. This is the only

way to sustainable poverty alleviation because unless we seal

the bottom of the bucket, no amount of water can fill it.

Development efforts must include building of schools, skilling

of the poor and creation of employment opportunities. These

efforts have to be in co operation with the local governments.

If one looks at the big picture, ultimately this development

would trickle into demand for products/services and would

benefit the businesses in the area (and hence the overall

economy of the nation & the world).

While creation of wealth is crucial to human progress and

prosperity, and must be encouraged, it has to be accompanied

with creation of opportunities for the poor, so as to bring more

inclusiveness in our world. It is a matter of shame for the

entire humanity that while we take pride in all the infinite

advancements in science, technology and commerce, and are

planning to take commercial flights to other planets, we haven't

yet been able to achieve basic social equity on our planet.

Global Poverty map - % of population (UN Data)

Percentage population living on less than $1.25 (PPP) per day

3
Water is the new Oil
“Water is life's mater and matrix, mother and medium. There is
no life without water.”
Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
Hungarian Biochemist; 1937 Nobel Prize for Medicine

Water is the foundation of life on our planet. It is difficult

to overstate the importance of water for health, economic

development, environmental integrity and social cohesion. As the

United Nations (UN) Millennium Report in 2000 concludes: ‘No

single measure would do more to reduce disease and save lives in

the developing world than bringing safe water and adequate

sanitation to all.’ It is also difficult to overstate the scope

and consequences of the current global water crisis, one that

leaves more than 1 billion people without access to safe

drinking water. Pictures below depict the serious situation of

water crises.

Water is the driving force of all nature. It is essential for

the workings of our ecological systems. It is essential for our

health and the health of our communities. It features

prominently in our spiritual life. It binds us together through

shared waterways and shared water sources. It shapes our

relationship with nature, politics and economies.

Competition for water is heating up everywhere. Continuing

population growth and urbanization, shifting dietary habits

towards more water-intensive foods, spiraling demand for

alternate fuel crops and growth in water-intensive industries,

are all contributing to ever-growing demand for water.

At the same time, water pollution, degraded ecosystems and

global warming endanger local water recharge, quality and

sustainable supply around the world. Two in every five people in

the world today live in international water basins, and more

than fifty countries on five continents have been identified as

hotbeds for potential future conflicts over water. Water

‘grabs’, the irresponsible appropriation or diversion of water

without consideration for other users, abetted by corruption,

may translate tension into open conflict. It is high time that

public policy makers, businessmen and activists begin seeing

water as a “public good” in the real sense and join hands to

develop technologies, solutions and policies that would promote

a more efficient and equitable use of water. Research and

commercialization of sea water desalination using energy

efficient methods must be made a top priority and a multi

national research team may be instituted to work on that.

Demand Side Water management

Globally, about 69% of fresh water is used for irrigation while

industrial and household usage is about 15% each.

Others: 1%

Household:
15%

Irrigation: Industrial:
69% 15%

Water may be used more efficiently in Irrigation by

• encouraging use of sprinkler systems (providing sprinkler

systems on subsidized prices; regulations mandating use of

sprinkler systems)

• monitoring irrigation water usage using digital systems.

This digital information may be recorded in a database

• placing a cap on irrigation water usage and removing

subsidies on diesel and electricity (used to pump water) if

the consumption exceeds the cap

Water may be used more efficiently in households (esp. urban

homes) by creating a tiered system of water rates, wherein, the

rates go up dramatically, as the consumption of water in a

household goes beyond a certain level (say, average consumption

per person, for the region). Tiered water pricing must be
supplemented with Water awareness programs. Tax incentives may

also be provided. Privatization may also aid in more efficient

usage of water.

Industrial usage of water can be made efficient through use of

policy measures (tax incentives) and technology.

Supply-Side Water management

Governments need to encourage private sector participation in

building Water treatment plants and distribution systems, by

ensuring a transparent and corruption free system, a reasonable

rate of return for the equity provider, and by ensuring that the

long term purchase contracts (in Public-Private partnership

projects) are honored 100% of the time.

Desalination of sea water must also be encouraged and such

systems may be powered by the tidal or wind power systems

integrated with the desalination system.

Contamination of rivers must be checked by pre-treating

municipal wastes.

It is imperative to appreciate that Water is a scarce resource

and if steps are not taken aggressively, to preserve it, danger

may be posed to nations' integrity (and internal peace) – with

one state flexing its muscle over the other, to have access to

water. Tensions could also arise between industry groups and

farmers, over the usage of water. This is of course, besides the

fact that we literally need water for survival.

4
Energy: Elixir of economy
“It is evident that the fortunes of the world's human
population, for better or for worse, are inextricably
interrelated with the use that is made of energy resources.”
M. King Hubbert
Geologist known for his Hubbert Peak Theory

It is rightly argued that Energy is at the heart of all human

and economic activity. Food, water, medicines, transportation

systems, clothes, electronic gadgets, entertainment and

everything else needs energy to be produced. There are no two

opinions on the importance of energy in our lives. However, the

way we produce energy is being debated due to environmental

concerns.

While a consensus is building up on the increased use of solar

power, wind power, geothermal power, bio fuels (bio ethanol,

jathropha) and tidal power, the economics of generating energy

from these alternate sources is still hampering large scale

adoption. Solar power is one area where lot of research is being

done and new technologies, such as, nanosolar, are being

developed and tested, as I write this. If nanosolar becomes a

commercial success, we could see a significant increase in solar

power generation across the world, because this technology makes

construction of large scale solar farms cheaper than other

solar technologies.

Wi n d far m

Sol a r far m in a de s e r t

Ethanol plant surrounded by corn fields

Jatr o p h a (biofu e l) pl a n t a t i o n

Nuclear energy is being revived as a solution to the problem of

energy security and environmental degradation. However, it does

have issues, namely, long time to commission a nuclear power

plant, high initial capital costs (making the electricity

produced, more expensive) and most importantly, nuclear waste

disposal.

The Energy Tri-Challenge

The challenge we face is three-fold. Firstly, we need to ensure

energy security i.e. adequate future supply of energy for the

ever increasing world population. In the words of Tony Blair (ex

Prime Minister of UK): "In the future, energy security will be

almost as important as defense". Secondly, we have to improve

the reach of energy, especially electricity, which is a must for

decentralized development (discussed later). The power

infrastructure needed to facilitate reach in a particular

country is illustrated in the figure below. Finally, we have to

ensure that the environmental security is not compromised due to

increased demand for energy. Interestingly, all three of these

issues can be tackled by gradually increasing the % of

alternative energy in the energy- source portfolio. For example,

a decentralized solar generator provides energy security, is

environment friendly and enables reach of energy to the remotest

parts.

Power infrastructure

High

Grid based + distributed Distributed power
power generation generation + some
Grid based

No. of remote
areas w/o

Grid based Distributed power
(centralized) power generation
generation

Low

Low High
Transmission losses

Measures promoting energy security and environmental protection

are provided below:

1) Increasing dependence on Solar and wind
We should try to tap solar and wind energy, followed by

geothermal, bio fuels and nuclear power, in that order. Even

though solar power can only be generated while the sun is there,

it would significantly reduce dependence on coal or oil based

power. Likewise wind energy has a huge potential to replace

fossil-fuel based energy generation.

2) Mass transportation systems
All key cities around the world must have mass transportation

systems. Such systems may be developed as group initiatives,

wherein the G20 or another similar group of countries, must come

together to assist other countries in planning, funding and

transferring technology.

Apart from mass transportation systems, car pool may be

encouraged by governments.

3) Transmission losses & theft must be checked
Automated metering, replacement of faulty transmission equipment

and privatization of electricity transmission and distribution

are some of the ways to check transmission losses and theft of

electricity. In most developing countries, as much as 50% of

electricity is lost during transmission due to thefts and poorly

maintained transmission & distribution infrastructure.

Therefore, curtailing such losses & thefts can significantly

help to alleviate the energy crises in such countries.

4) Mandatory usage of biofuels with regular fossil fuels
Use of biofuels in conjunction with fossil fuels must be

mandated in all nations. Ethanol and Jatropha oil can be the key

biofuel additives.

5
Healthcare
"He who has health has hope; and he who has hope has everything"
- Arabic Proverb

A healthy body (and a healthy mind) is the basic foundation for

all other forms of human, economic and social development. To

that end, importance of healthcare infrastructure can hardly be

overstated. Having said that, healthcare reforms are long

overdue in almost every nation of the world. There are several

elements to the healthcare puzzle, most important of them being:

a) Health education to the last mile

The basic building block of any healthcare system is health

education. Apart from health clinics, such education could be

imparted through pan-country distribution networks, such as,

Post Office or a pan national bank. Health education could also

be delivered via Satellite systems (in conjunction with

education – discussed in next chapter).

Women health, child health and elderly health must be

emphasized, along with preventive health. Menace of AIDS, TB and

the newly prevalent H1N1/H5N1 viruses can only be tackled by

educating people throughout the world. Companies like Microsoft

and Google who are already at the forefront of Healthcare can

play an even bigger role in this area by digitally connecting

the remotest parts of the world.

b) Health services to the last mile

Health education has to be supplemented with easy access to good

quality healthcare in all parts of the world. Healthcare

delivery infrastructure may comprise of fixed health clinics,

mobile health clinics and Telemedicine. Telemedicine is a system

where diagnosis of health can be done remotely by means of a

communication link (internet/satellite) and a specialized

software which interfaces with sensors that can guage the body

temperature, pulse rate, heart beats and transmit images of

symptomatic body parts.

The choice of the Healthcare delivery medium depends upon the

country's doctor density as well as the number of remote

locations that need to be served. Interplay of these two

variables and the corresponding healthcare delivery model has

been provided below.

Healthcare Solutions

High

New clinic/dispensary Set up Health centers
establishments in remote serving a group of
areas remote areas;
Telemedicine

Country’s
doctor density

Transportation of doctors
once a week (mobile); Telemedicine
Telemedicine

Low

No. of remote locations
Low High

c) Application of IT to facilitate healthcare initiatives

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) have always been

a great enabler of reach, efficiency and quality. In healthcare

sector, ICT can enable:

• Healthcare education delivery

• Health diagnostic services

• Healthcare audit

• Healthcare intelligence development

Healthcare education delivery and diagnostic services have been

discussed earlier. Healthcare audit and intelligence are

discussed next.

Healthcare audit is a way to guage the performance of a

healthcare system at every delivery point. Various performance

metrics, such as, number of physicians, number of nurses, number

of people served in a month/week, case outcomes (resolved,

referred, unsuccessful cases) can be fed in real-time into an

online system, from every delivery point. Such a real-time audit

system is a great way to make the healthcare system agile in

terms of identifying outbreak of epidemics and in terms of

quickly identifying any bottlenecks in the healthcare delivery

system.

“Healthcare intelligence” is the knowledge derived from

accumulation of data on medical cases, their treatment and the

final outcome. This knowledge can be used to observe trends in

diseases, and can also help in guiding treatment of certain

diseases with certain symptoms in certain category of people

(either racial category or disease category). Such treatment

guidance system is especially beneficial in areas where there is

shortage of quality physicians and medical specialists. In such

areas, the doctors may seek assistance from a “Healthcare

intelligence” system in determining atleast an initial course of

action (especially in emergency situations).

d) Population control

Last but not the least, population control must be made an

intrinsic part of any healthcare policy. High population levels

put stress on the natural resources and environment, and the

economy, in general. Unabated growth in population shall lead to

food shortages, and ultimately affect the nutrition level and

overall health of individuals adversely, leading to a greater

need for healthcare. In words of Hellen Keller, "Once it was

necessary that the people should multiply and be fruitful if the

race was to survive. But now to preserve the race it is

necessary that people hold back the power of propagation."

While the above suggested measures seem like common sense things

to do, healthcare systems in most countries (especially

developing ones) leave a lot to be desired. In countries where

healthcare is provided as a government service, lack of

political will and corruption in healthcare administration &

delivery (and not the lack of technology and finances) is the

reason for inefficient and deficient healthcare systems. In

countries where healthcare is mostly privatized, the healthcare

providers are gouging enormous price from their customers,

making healthcare unaffordable for a vast majority of people. In

either case, the end consumer (of healthcare) is suffering.

6
Education
“What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the
human soul.”
Joseph Addison
English essayist, poet and politician

Education is at the core of economic development of any country.

Without appropriate education infrastructure, no country can

progress. The current format, content, delivery mechanism and

institutional framework of education, in most countries, leaves

much to be desired and must be revamped. For some countries, the

re engineering of education sector is not even a matter of

choice. Case in point is an Asian country that boasts of having

the largest number of youth population in the world in the next

10 years. While on one hand this implies potential availability

of enormous manpower that can propel the country's economic

growth, on the other hand it necessitates a massive revamp of

the country's education sector. And the window of opportunity to

achieve this is very small. Very soon a huge chunk of youth

population will attain the age where they would be eligible for

college education and an equally massive population would begin

their schooling. The country has to therefore prepare its

education infrastructure within this short time span, otherwise,
the same potential human resource could turn into millions of

uneducated & unemployed youth.

Recommendations for Re engineering of the education sector

(involving re designing the format, content, delivery mechanism

and institutional framework) are provided below:

Format

Currently most schools have primarily one-way communication

(teacher to pupil) in a classroom setting. There is a need to

introduce Group Discussions and public speaking in the classroom

setting. Books should be complemented with online lessons, class

presentations and external speakers. Educational games and

interactive exercises may also be part of the curriculum. If

possible, there should be educational visits. Case studies may

be used in classes to teach subjects.

Content

Apart from conventional subjects, there should be subjects

dealing with:

• Personal financial management

• Global issues – environmental, political, business, social

• Career options available to students after school (in

certain countries school students believe that there are no

other professions besides engineering and medicine)

• Information systems – How they have impacted various

industries and professions (to prepare students for future

work and social environments)

• Ethics in business and society

• Concepts should be integrated through case studies.

Delivery mechanism

In addition to lecture oriented delivery inside classrooms,

newer mechanisms should be adopted. These may include:

• Satellite based real time interactions with students from

schools in other countries and regions within the same

country.

• Powerpoint/Multimedia presentations in the class

• Online lessons through PCs

• Speaker series

Institutional framework

• Public-Private partnerships must be used to set up new

schools in remote/less developed regions.

• Management of existing government schools may be

privatized. In this model, the government would pay for the

schools operations and private sector will manage the
administration of schools.

• 1 to 2 year teaching assignments at government sponsored

schools may be made a mandatory part of National Service.

• Teaching at government schools for a year or two, may be

made a pre-qualification for applying to a government job.

• Bureaucrats must be made in charge of the schools in their

respective regions/districts. For example, in countries

where District collector is incharge of a district, he/she

should be made the Chief Education Administrator for the
district.

• Parameters may be laid down to assess the efficiency of

schools, performance of students and clear accountabilities

must be set. These accountabilities may be published online

(in public domain).

• Education content must be audited every 2 years and updated

to reflect the current affairs.

Education being the most important social goal of any country,

it must be prioritized. There should be no lax on the

accountabilities and performance metrics.

The remaining chapter discusses ideas and ways to enhance the

effectiveness and reach of academic and corporate education.

Specifically, following topics are covered:

• Global education

• Corporate training and re skilling

• Quality education to the last mile

• Human Resource Development

Global University for a globalized world

In our ever changing, globalized world, the education too should

reflect globalization in true sense. An online global university

(refer figure on next page) may be formed which can deliver top

quality education across the globe. Here, professors from some

of the best universities around the world, can come together

through an online platform and deliver classes via the Internet,

to an equally diverse set of students from a variety of cultures

and regions of the world. Such an online program will be highly

flexible because the curriculum can be adapted quickly to the

contemporary issues. Moreover, it will promote a more holistic

understanding of key issues facing the world, such as Global

financial systems, Environmental safety, Terrorism,

Unemployment, Poverty, Social injustice, Healthcare and

Education.

Global Education Delivery Model

Customized content, Interactive, Flexibility of location & time, International outlook, Leveraging best academic minds

Professors from a variety of universities and Age, location, profession of
expertise may come together to deliver a course student becomes irrelevant

Corporate training & re-skilling via “A la carte” online system

An online e-Learning platform should be developed to train and

re skill corporate managers, workers and executives. The supply

of content could be from an individual industry expert or a

university or an industry association.

Benefits of such an online corporate training platform include:

• Flexibility in customizing the curriculum to meet the

training needs of a firm (Companies can provide the outline

of the training to which the consultants and universities
can submit their proposals)

• Employees can train at their chosen place and time (and

even pace)

• A la Carte system implies that the companies can pick and

choose what modules they wish to train their individual

employees in

• Such a re-skilling or training programme could act as a

confidence & morale booster for the employees

Quality education to the last mile

This can be achieved by using Satellites for delivering world

class education to the remotest parts of the world. LCD Mega

screens may be installed in the remotest parts of planet earth,

and educational lessons, current affairs programmes, speaker

series (in local languages) and programmes on various countries,

may be delivered via satellite. Such an infrastructure is an

absolute must to remove the misery and hopelessness in certain

places of the world. It would also help people to better

understand the world that they live in and are part of. Most of

all, it would excite these people towards personal upliftment

and upward mobility in society.

Speaker series may include people from different walks of life:

• Authors

• Economists

• Historians

• Musicians

• Scientists

• Industry gurus

• Scholars & Academicians

• Sports figures

• Corporate managers

• Engineers

• Doctors

• Geologists

• Entrepreneurs

The idea is to sow a seed of curiosity among the students even

in the remotest parts of the world.

Human Resource Development

Ultimate objective of good education infrastructure in any

country is Human Resource Development (HRD). To that end,

education infrastructure is just one element of HRD.

The HRD model proposed here includes 4 elements:

• Education

Education content should be redesigned to include contemporary

topics discussed above, apart from the conventional subjects.

• Personality development (sports, communication skills,

English language skill)

In today's globalized world where work and information flows

seamlessly around the globe, it is critical to make Personality

development an intrinsic part of education system. Participation

in sports and development of English language skills must be

emphasized throughout K-12 and beyond.

• Vocational training

Given the increasing specialization in the nature of work,

globally, it is imperative that vocational training be imparted

to all college graduates in their areas of interest/abilities.

Vocational training may be seen as a polishing exercise where

raw talent is moulded into Human resource that can be utilized

productively by the employing organization.

• Employment opportunities

Without adequate employment opportunities (qualitatively and

quantitatively), education and vocational training are not of

much benefit to either an individual or the nation, as a whole.

For complete Human Resource Development it is critical that the

governments and the private sector work collaboratively to

create job opportunities. While this is a challenge in

developing countries with large populations, I believe it is

also an opportunity for these nations to create industries that

could absorb large number of people. For example, by creating

mega solar farms in the Thar Desert of India and the Sahara, the

Kalahari, and the Namib of Africa, entire new industries can be

created. A solar farm would need solar panels (and thus the need

for solar manufacturing units), panel installation specialists

and solar farm maintenance workers, at the very least.

Human Resource Development =

Education (including contemporary content)

+ Personality development (sports, communication skills,

English language skill)

+ Vocational training

+ Employment opportunities

It is worth noting that all the elements of Human Resource

Development (especially Education, vocational training and

employment opportunities) are needed in tandem, to have a
positive impact on the society. Any missing or imbalanced

element can, in fact, be counterproductive for the country

(society).

Analysis of the interplay between the education level and

vocational training in terms of its impact on the productivity

of workforce and their re skilling potential is provided in the

matrix below. As can be observed, lack of either proper

education level or vocational training or both, does not yield

the most desired results. Emphasizing formal education without

any avenues for vocational training produces a workforce that is

not highly productive. On the other hand, if vocational training

is emphasized without adequate emphasis on formal education, the

workforce may be productive at the task they are trained for but

their ability to grow professionally through re skilling, may be

significantly hampered.

Impact of education level & vocational training on productivity

High

Pool of educated but Most productive; most
unskilled people; flexible in terms of re
Less productive but skilling; Greatest chances
potential for skilling of integrating with the new
economy

Formal
education

Exclusion from the new Career options limited;
economy Productive but less
potential for re skilling &
integrating with new
economy

Low

Low Vocational training High

Likewise, if promotion of education (and subsequent high

education penetration) is not supplemented with adequate

employment opportunities, this may lead to frustration among the

educated due to under and un-employment, and may also lead to

brain-drain (through emigration). On the contrary, if the

employment opportunities are available but educated/skilled

people required for such positions are not available, this may

lead to immigration of talent (which is good for economic

development) leading to societal tensions between the immigrants

and the natives. This has been observed in some of the most

developed countries in form of “glass ceilings” and

discriminatory pay. The following matrix illustrates this

dynamics between education and employment opportunities.

Impact of Education penetration & Employment opportunities on
Society
High

Frustration due to Progressive,
un/under hopeful society
employment;
emigration

Education
Penetration
(%)
Immigrants/expat
Hopelessness in dominated society;
society; hotbed for potential bed for
terrorism protectionism

Low

Low Employment opportunities High

7
Microfinance: The quiet
revolution that is about to
take off
"Microfinance is an idea whose time has come."
Kofi Annan
7th Secretary-General of the UN; Nobel Peace Prize winner

I call microfinance - the financial “Drip irrigation”. There are

more similarities between Microfinance and Drip irrigation, than

differences. Both are provided in small amounts and offered

right at the area of need, and both help to provide maximum

return to both the provider and consumer. Currently worldwide

microfinance loan portfolio stands at $25B and experts believe

that $250B more is needed to reach all the poor of the world.

Microfinance loans defy the key finance principal of Risk and

Reward. A Microfinance loan offers very high rates of return and

has one of the lowest default rates. In other words it is a high

reward – low risk game. This should be reason enough for

financial institutions to develop their Microfinance asset

portfolio and reach out to the poorest of the poor in the

remotest parts of the world. A good indicator of the success and

lucrativeness of the microfinance model is the flow of smart

money (Mutual funds, Venture Capitalists and Private Equity)

towards microfinance in recent years.
A phenomenon that was started by Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh in

1976 is about to take the world by storm. Financial pundits have

taken serious note of this financial asset in recent years and I

am confident that in next 10 years we will witness exponential

growth in this domain.

I believe that for microfinance to yield its full benefit, the

recipients of these microloans need to be equipped with

education and awareness about the opportunities that exist. Till

now, microfinance has mainly been used to facilitate very small

ventures & to meet incidental expenses, such as:

• purchasing cattle, sheep or chicken

• starting a tailoring or a barber shop

• starting a handicraft making unit

• cost of burials, sickness

• crop failure

• healthcare costs (medicines, treatment, surgery)

• purchase of farm equipment (irrigation, transportation,

seeds)

• purchasing of bikes, radios, boats

• construction of wells

• home renovation

• microenterprise working capital

In the next phase, we should see creation of ventures that are

higher in the value chain, such as, food processing;

manufacturing handicrafts, glassware and brassware for exports;

retail shop for clothing, electronics, cycles; cyber cafes; taxi

service.

The only constraint to the microfinance model is that by its

nature, it cannot support financing of high investment ventures

– which are essential for creation of new wealth. For example,

mass manufacturing that can leverage economies of scale and

provide consistency in product quality is essential to creating

low cost, high quality products that can be exported to other

areas, regions or countries. To that end, currently,

microfinance is essentially a wealth transfer tool within a

small area. However, that does not take away its importance in

terms of creating livelihoods in the poorest and the remotest

parts of the world.

Given the huge number of people in poverty in several parts of

the world, microfinance can be a great trigger for economic

development in those areas.

Microfinance: Grass root banking

Microfinance: Working capital and credit to vegetable sellers

Microfinance: Promoting local crafts

Microfinance: Venture capital for a home based business

Commercial banks, private equity shops and Asset Managers should

make Microfinance an integral part of the portfolio. Next

generation portfolio should read: Equities, Bonds, Cash,

Commodities and Microfinance loans. The day when mutual funds

will start to put money in microfinance, like they do in stocks,

our world would have become a step closer to removing poverty.

Likewise, a specialty bond called 'Microfinance bond' may be

introduced. Such bonds would be a great win-win for global

investors and the millions of microfinance recipients.

'Microfinance bond' will provide high yield with low risk and

has the potential to raise billions of dollars for microfinance

institutions.

8
Decentralized development:
An engine for equitable
growth
"As a rule of thumb, involve everyone in everything."
Tom Peters
American management guru

Decentralized development is the key to equitable growth in any

country. Besides promoting equitable growth, it helps to

discourage the migration of people to a few key cities, which

has positive effects in terms of reduced pressure on the

infrastructure, easier management of homeland security, and

reduced stress on environment around the key cities.

Having a metropolitan city for every 5 million people in the

country can serve as a rough benchmark, for the number of

metropolitan cities that may be developed in a nation. Of

course, in case of developing countries, a key impediment to

such decentralized development is financial resources. With the

lack of full fledged capital markets in developing economies, it

is difficult for governments to raise enough capital to develop

pan-nation metro cities. This has led some developing nations to

chose the path of promoting development of Special Economic

Zones (SEZ) in partnership with private companies. Private

corporations have been encouraged through incentives, to
develop, mega Special Economic Zones, that would be like a city

by themselves (with their own power supply, water supply,

sanitation). The success of such schemes has not been completely

problem-free as well. Arbitrary allotment of land for industrial

purposes (causing the fertile farm land to be siphoned away for

industrial activity) and land acquisition problems due to

inadequate compensation to farmers (marred by delayed payments

and political middlemen and corrupt bureaucrats receiving a cut

of such payments ) have been the key hurdles to SEZ development.

According to World Bank estimates, as of 2007 there were more

than 3,000 projects taking place in SEZs in 120 countries

worldwide. A variety of institutional structures ranging from

fully public (government operator, government developer,

government regulator) to 'fully' private (private operator,

private developer, public regulator) have been utilized.

For such a decentralized development to be truly successful,

there must be a network of highways, railways, airports that

connects these cities.

The local economies of these cities may be supported by

developing industries that reflect the skills and resources

available in the region, and/or by building a services base

(that can serve either the local economy or national economy or

even international markets).

Given the population of the major developing countries, such

pan-national metro cities can thrive simply by serving the local

population.

Apart from the essential elements of a decentralized

development, such as:

• Healthcare facilities

• Banking facilities

• Postal facilities

• Public transportation

• Power & Water infrastructure

• Roads

• Houses

• Airports, Railway Stations, Airports

• Commercial district

a very important element of decentralized development is

development of recreational facilities & avenues, which helps

people to socialize, have fun together or with their families

and get a sense of joy & relaxation.

A less expensive way to promote decentralized development is

through creation of small scale industries spread across the

country. A lot of developing countries have successfully used

this model and I believe it can be fruitfully utilized in the

undeveloped countries, as well. Some of the small and mid-sized

businesses that can help to kick start local economies are

listed below:

• Handicrafts

• Brassware

• Bricks made from agricultural waste and ash

• Fish farms

• Horticulture – flowers, perfume

• Auto parts manufacturing

• Manufacturing of FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods)

• Manufacturing of textiles

• Glassware

• Plasticware

Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) Markets

Discussion of decentralized development cannot be complete

without emphasizing the importance of such development to the

private sector.

There was a time when the Multi National Corporations omitted
the poorer and less developed (Bottom of the Pyramid) regions of

a developing country from their marketing plans. But it has now

been realized and understood that these less developed regions

(especially those where development has been started) are the

key to future growth of the MNCs. Even though the per capita

purchasing power in these less developed regions may be low, the

population of these regions is large enough to contribute to the

bottom line of the MNCs, provided the companies customize their

product and service offerings to this new BOP market. Product

sizing, packaging, pricing and delivering is now being altered

to meet the requirements of these BOP markets and to make the

venture profitable for the companies. As an example, an FMCG

conglomerate started selling its shampoos in ultra-low priced

sachets* in a BOP market, and discovered that their strategy was

a hit. Due to the sheer volume of sachets sold, this venture

became a highly lucrative business for the conglomerate.

Decentralized development helps to build the economic capacity

of the previously undeveloped region, thereby increasing the

purchasing power of the people therein. This increase in

purchasing power has the potential to trickle down to the bottom

line of a corporation, provided the corporation has customized

its business model and marketing strategy to this new market.

I will close by saying that decentralized development is good

for the government, the private sector and most importantly for

the people.

*A sachet is a small disposable bag, often used to contain
single-use quantities of consumer goods, such as ketchup or
shampoo.

9
The fiber of prosperity
“The Internet lives where anyone can access it”
Vinton Cerf
Computer scientist; Father of the Internet

Optical fiber is the most revolutionary technology that can

significantly make a difference to our world. By connecting the

remotest region of the world with high speed optical fiber

network, we can literally connect billions of people living in

the dark fringes of misery, with the rest of the world.

A high speed information network:

• can facilitate communication between the remotest regions

and the rest of the world

• can act as a medium for dissemination of literacy and

education, and removal of ignorance

• can be used to facilitate remote healthcare

• can be used to disseminate information on weather, disease

outbreak, natural calamities

• can be used to discover prices for commodities (including

crops)

• can be used to facilitate matching of micro credit donors

with seekers (kiva.org is a case in point)

• can be used for facilitating interactions between

government and its citizens, and making it easier, quicker

and less expensive, both for government and the citizens.

These interactions may include payment of taxes & levies,

payment of utility bills, voting, application for licenses,

subsidies & loans, determination of crop prices, purchase

of insurance, purchase of fertilizers, search for

employment in government and application for admission to

schools & colleges

• can be used to bring entertainment to the remotest parts

In my humble opinion, an optical fiber network has the potential

to improve the lives of billions of poor people, around the

world. Investment in building a country wide information highway

(fiber optic network) is the most prudent investment any

government can make.

10
Global Youth: Opportunity
or Threat?
“Employment is nature's physician, and is essential to human
happiness”
Claudius Galenus
Roman physician and philosopher of Greek origin

Demographics of a nation directly impacts its stability and

development. There are some interesting things happening on the

demographic front, globally. While the growth rate of world

population is declining, the number of people added each year is

stable at almost 76 million (over 200,000 people every day).

Median age of the population is rising (it was 28 in 2005) yet

every year there are more people below the age of 30. While the

policy makers in the industrialized world ponder over falling

birth rates, their counterparts in developing and undeveloped

countries are getting alarmed by the rapidly rising population

in those countries.

In 2006, there were over 6.5 billion of us. UN projections

indicate we will be almost 9 billion by 2050 – thats almost an

addition of 40% more people in a span of just 44 years. “Law of

compounding” sucks when it comes to the subject of population.

Apart from the rising global population, the age structure

dynamics is also something that we must pay attention to. The

age composition of any country can be categorized as either

Favorable or Adverse.

When a country's age structure is favorable, its government and

institutions are relatively easily able to provide social

welfare to the country's people and solve economic and political

problems. When a country's age structure is adverse, it is more

difficult to meet these challenges, resulting in lost

opportunities and sometimes state failures.

Favorable age structures are observed in countries with sound

economic prospects and which have a large proportion of the

population comprised of working-age adults, with smaller

proportions and slower growth among dependent children and older

adults. A favorable age structure provides a sufficient tax base

for government services and a social safety net for the more

dependent age groups. Adverse age structures, in contrast, often

develop in countries with weaker economic prospects and where

there is a rise in the proportion of young and/or dependent age

groups. Countries with adverse age structures (especially due to

higher proportion of younger population) are breeding grounds

for potential social conflicts and tensions, due to high degree

of unemployment. The following matrix depicts these age

structures.

Age Structures
High
Adverse age structure Neutral age structure
High degree of High degree of employment
unemployment;potential among working-age adults;
hotbed for social tension; savings rates may be low; high
government cannot take govt. taxes may be seen
care of dependent
population adequately
Dependent
population

Neutral age structure Favorable age
Due to lesser employment structure
opportunities at home, lot Lot of working-age adults
of adults may work abroad; employed in the economy
lesser dependent and can support the
population makes it easier dependents easily
for working adults to
emigrate abroad
Low
Low Economic strength of a country High
Low degree of dependent population = Smaller proportions and slower growth among
dependent children and older adults

Past data has shown a significant correlation of Adverse age

structures (resulting from high proportion of young population)

with Civic conflict and weak democracy. According to a report by

Population Action International, between 1970 to 1999, 80% of

all outbreaks of civil conflict that resulted in atleast 25

deaths and in which the government was an actor, occurred in

countries in which 60% or more of the population was under age

30. Likewise, nearly 90% of countries with very young structures

had an autocratic or weakly democratic government at the end of

the 20th century, while more than 80% of countries with mature

structures were fully democratic.

While a high proportion of young population may pose grave

challenges to the environmental sustainability, peace/security

and democracy, this same challenge can become an opportunity, if

the youth can be trained/skilled and absorbed into the economy

in a manner that enhances the productivity and the output of the

economy. Some of the measures that may be adopted by young

countries (population wise) especially developing ones, are

provided below:

• Retirement age of government employees must be reduced by 5

years from the current retirement age. It is a no-brainer

that youth being more productive can enhance the overall

productivity of the economy. And of course, such reduction

in retirement age will bring millions of youth into

workforce.

• Government jobs must adopt corporate-style performance

model wherein non-performers are made redundant after

certain levels of repeated non performance. This would help

to free a lot of jobs currently occupied by grossly

inefficient government employees, many of whom join the

government for the very stability of such jobs.

• Governments in developing and undeveloped countries must

undertake massive infrastructure development and

reconstruction programs, that would create millions of jobs

for both the rural and urban youth. Such projects may be

funded through government bonds tapping into domestic

markets or funds raised in foreign markets. Sovereign

wealth funds also have the potential to fund such

infrastructure creation. Countries like UAE, Norway, China,

Japan & Singapore have huge piles of foreign reserves that

can be diverted to creating productive assets in the

developing and undeveloped world. In the long run, such

investments are a win-win because they help to create

employment in developing countries thereby also creating

huge markets for the products/services of firms based in

the industrialized countries. Last but not the least, such

undertaking helps to uplift the quality of life of millions

of people around the world.

• Attracting black money (dirty money) for infrastructure

development can also be a viable strategy. Governments may

allow use of such money for purchase of infrastructure

bonds. Bonds with such facility may pay a lower interest

than identical bonds purchased with white money. This is

again a win-win. The government can unlock a huge reserve

of unaccounted money and can obtain such capital at a lower

cost. At the same time, the entity/person hoarding black

money can convert it into white money (by paying a nominal

capital gains tax or interest income tax) while also

receiving a return.

These developing countries with a vast pool of youth population

have a small window of opportunity that must be seized by their

governments. First the governments will have to ramp up the

primary, secondary and tertiary education infrastructure and

then skill the graduates. This ramp up will have to be in tandem

with enhanced healthcare and nutrition. At the same time, the

government will have to ramp up the physical infrastructure and

even expand the manufacturing base so as to absorb the millions

of educated and skilled youth, produced each year. A match

between the number of youth entering the workforce and the

number of jobs is an absolute must to ensure peace and harmony

in these developing countries, and the world at large. Pyramid
below depicts the equality in importance of education, health

and employment opportunities, in tapping the potential of

millions of youth, and hence creating a peaceful and

economically productive society.

Job creation

Peace
&
Economic productivity

Health & Nutrition Education & Skilling

11
If the environment is
screwed nothing else really
matters
“We won't have a society if we destroy the environment”
Margaret Mead
American cultural anthropologist

Economic and social progress is of least value if it comes at

the expense of our environment. I cannot imagine living in a

world where one has to walk around wearing oxygen masks for

breathing, where floods and droughts become seasons, and where

trees, plants and animals are only to be seen in text books.

What I have just said is so banal (and repetitive) that I

actually thought twice whether I should even write this note.

But the fact is that the threat to environment is real and

imminent. It needs our immediate attention and we need to

prioritize environmental protection.

While transitioning from the pre-industrial to industrial

phases, we, as human beings were in awe of industrial

discoveries and inventions. Productivity increased; agriculture

was replaced by manufacturing; focus then started shifting onto

services. At the same time, a lot of countries in Asia & Africa

were gaining independence from their colonists. These countries

which were earlier busy with their freedom struggles were facing
humanitarian crises post-independence. There were large scale

migrations (due to partitions), food & grain shortages and the

exploitation of these nations by their colonists would leave

them dilapidated for several decades following the independence.

During these periods – industrialization of the west and

recuperation of the East – environment was accorded the least

priority. By the time the West woke up from their party and the

East had just started to resurrect, it was too late. Ozone had

started to deplete, sea levels had started to rise, there was a

marked increase in earth's temperature and ice caps had started

shrinking. Flora and Fauna in various regions of the world was

classified as endangered.

This is not a desert. This is (was) Amazon forest.

Arctic is melting

Some scientists have recently stated that we have less than a

decade to reverse the adverse environmental changes. This should

ring an alarm bell for us. All corporations, governments and

people must rise above all other differences, to unite in their

efforts to save our planet.

While a lot of attention has been given to environment in recent

years, and a variety of measures, programs and initiatives

started, a lot still remains to be done to save our planet.

Some of the ways we could check environmental degradation,

includes:

• Using public (mass) transportation instead of individual

vehicles

• Promoting use of electric cars

• Using recyclable stuff

• Switching off electrical gadgets when not using them

• Using technologies that automatically cut energy

consumption based on some control parameters

• Switching to alternate fuels/energy (solar, wind, tidal)

instead of coal

• Retrofitting all emission sources/points across the world

with new technology

• Discouraging travel and utilizing IT as a communication

enabler

• Ensuring rapid curtailment of forest fires

• Strictly implementing ban on poaching/killing of endangered

animals

While all of these ways are being currently implemented, there

is a need for widespread/global education campaign to increase

awareness among people about the threat to environment.

Last but not the least, population control is also needed for

checking environmental degradation. However, this is not as easy

to implement given the political dynamics involved. In most

developing countries, the most populous section of the society,

is also the most influential in determining the fate of

politicians and political parties simply because of their

numbers and the their higher than average voter turnout. No

party wants to bell the cat. Any party that tries to mandate

population control on such populous groups may face voters'

wrath in the elections. Educating these groups on population

control has not yielded very promising results because of their

low education levels and the argument that more kids in the

family mean more bodies to earn money. However, the good news is

that, of late, such groups are beginning to understand the long

term benefits of smaller families, and its role in bringing

upward mobility to such families.

12
Don't do charity
“Charity is injurious unless it helps the recipient to become

independent of it”

John D. Rockefeller

American industrialist & philanthropist

Firstly, the word 'Charity' is belittling because it implies

inability of the recipient to fend for themselves. While that

may theoretically be true but the core reason for that situation

is an ineffective governance (due to greed and inefficiency) and

insensitivity of business and political leaders. It is the

responsibility of any government to enable each of its citizens

to be able to earn livelihood and lead a dignified life.

Secondly, instead of providing free food or money or clothes,

the poor must be provided education, they must be trained to

enter the workforce and they must be assisted in career guidance

& job search. Give them fish, they will enjoy the dinner

tonight; teach them how to fish and they will enjoy dinner

every night.

13
Specialize for Peace
“A durable and equitable peace system requires equal development

opportunities for all nations”

Willy Brandt

German politician; Noble Peace Prize winner

It seems imperative that for all countries to live peacefully

with one another and have peace within their societies, they

will need to have a competitive edge in one or the other

economic area. Not only would this enable the respective

countries to create wealth for themselves but it will also make

them a stakeholder in the progress of the entire world. It is

also important to understand that the developed countries will

have to help the underdeveloped countries to become competitive

in their areas of specialty. This may be achieved by introducing

new (latest) technologies in the region (as against the previous

approach of exporting older technology to the underdeveloped

markets); introducing newer managerial techniques and tools; and

also helping the underdeveloped countries to build their

education and health care infrastructure. Unless we have such a

model of global inclusiveness, there will always be soft spots

and regions which will support and breed terrorists and other

disruptive forces.

Having said that, it is not sustainable for our world to to have

a few highly developed countries ('haves') and a large number of

underdeveloped ones. Initially, the 'have nots' may witness

social unrest within their boundaries but sooner or later the

undeveloped regions shall become a breeding ground for exporting

terror, maritime piracy (Gulf of Aden is a hotbed of such

activity), promoting international drug trafficking, money

laundering, illegal arms sales and in the worse case scenario,

an agent for illegal nuclear trade. Not that all this is not

currently happening, but if proactive measures are not adopted

by the developed world to build an “inclusive” model, these

problems would only worsen with time.

Each country – whether developed or developing – should assess

its strengths and areas of opportunities. These could be:

• Vast pool of educated youth

• Service oriented culture

• Natural resources – fertile soil, coal, oil, metals etc

• Wastage of agricultural produce

• Scenic beauty

• Marine productivity

• Land pattern – deserts, mountains, plains

• Weather – winds, rains, heat

• Creativity in society

• Abundance of a particular vegetation or crop

• Location

Every nation should leverage their natural strength to the

maximum. Not only will this create prosperity for the country

but it will also benefit the entire world (through efficient

resource utilization). Nations that have leveraged their natural

strengths have made a mark for themselves in those specialist

areas.

Industries that have (or can be) developed on the basis of

natural strengths of a country:

Vast pool of educated youth

• Business Process Outsourcing

• IT services industry

• Engineering services

Service oriented culture

• Business Process Outsourcing (airlines, hospitality credit

card services, financial services)

• International summits, conferences & workshops

Natural resources – fertile soil, coal, oil, metals, gems, river

systems etc

• Production of crops, fruits & vegetables

• Exports of commodities

• Refining of commodities to value-added products

• Power generation (large and small scale hydro power

projects)

Wastage of agricultural produce

• Food processing industry (domestic & export markets)

• Cold Chain development (Pre-harvest processing, Storage,

transportation, retail)

Scenic beauty

• Tourism (including Eco Tourism) – Resorts, Safaris, Tourist

spots

• International business summits, conferences

Land pattern – deserts, mountains, plains, coastline

• Deserts may be used for setting up solar farms

• Desert sands may be used to develop optical fibers (used in

telecommunications)

• Mountains may be used for hydel power

• Access to seas (Coastlines) may be utilized to develop

aquaculture (fisheries, marine life) for food, medicines

Weather – winds, rains, heat, cold

• Windy countries/regions may develop wind farms to generate

power

• Rainy areas – Groundwater (for domestic use & even export

of water)

• High solar intensity regions may emphasize solar power

generation

• Colder regions may develop cold storage facilities for

domestic as well as foreign markets

Creativity in society

• Entertainment industry

• Publishing industry

Abundance of a particular vegetation or crop

• Biofuel

• Food processing

Location

• Refining base for oil

• Shipping industry

• Ports industry (rent seeking)

• Tourism industry

• Economic & financial capital for multilateral organizations

14
Re inventing the Government
Administrative machinery
“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To
change something, build a new model that makes the existing
model obsolete”
Buckminster Fuller
Philospher, futurist and global thinker

Governments worldwide need to give a serious thought to re

inventing how they administer. With the rapid adoption of the

internet and related technologies, evolution of new markets

(e.g. online services), the opening and subsequent emergence of

previously closed economies, and increased incidences of

terrorism (extremism), the governments cannot administer

effectively using archaic assumptions, work flows and control

systems.

Some of the areas that must be looked into, include:

1) Digitization of all the government records: This would

promote quick retrieval of information, increase transparency

and trust (between citizens and the government) and the stored

data can be used to develop “Administrative Intelligence” which

can be used to guide the Administrators.

2) Digitization of work processes: By making the internal and

public interface processes available online (intranet, extranet

and internet), not only would the costs involved in executing
the processes, come down, but it would increase the transparency

(and hence accountability) as well. Use of technology shall make

the administrative machinery leaner (in terms of staff,

consumption of paper and other operational costs) and help to

reduce the time spent on internal approvals and in delivering

public services. Incidences of error related with manual

processing may be eliminated, as well. While, federal and state

governments are beginning to implement IT in their

administrative systems, the governments need to set aggressive

time lines for digitization of entire administrative system, and

ensure that the state systems and federal systems are integrated

(to avoid redundancy in data and processes).

3) Public Access to government funding information

Timeline for all the public programs initiated by the

governments (both federal and state) along with the

administrators responsible for the implementation of those

projects must be made available on the internet. Budgets

allocated and the details of spending must be provided, too.

4) Public Access to government processes

Every time a citizen engages with the government, the status of

the engagement should be made available online. The system

should be similar to the online application process to various

colleges and universities. Unless public can see in real time

how their taxes are being spent and the status of their

interactions with the government, they will not trust the

governments and will continue to be cynical of them. For

example, if I apply for a new phone connection, I should be able

to track in real time, the status of my application, online.

While in the short term, use of technology would be resisted by

some because their vested interests may be affected but if the

Governments are sincere about social equality, democratization

and development-of-the-last-mile they would go ahead with

implementing technology throughout their administrative setup.

In the long run, this would significantly boost the Government's

image among the citizens and even foreign nations, and of

course, will improve the efficiency of the entire administrative

machinery. Benefits are summarized below:

• Efficient utilization of tax money

• Improved public delivery services – cost, time, quality,

transparency

• Increased trust between the Government and its citizens

• Increased foreign investment – which further leads to

economic development
5) Sharing of data base and work processes among government

departments

Sharing of data and work processes among various government

departments can significantly increase the efficiency of all the

departments (by speeding the inter-department approval

processes) as well as reduce the wastages due to un-coordinated

public works projects. For example, real-time data on projects

could be shared between the Transportation, Railways, Sewage

disposal, telephone, electricity and the local public works

department (responsible for roads, lighting). This would ensure

that all necessary approvals are obtained quickly and that there

is no rework. Reworks are a major issue (and drain on resources)

in public works. Very often, due to lack of co-ordination among

the road and sewage disposal departments, the sewage pipes are

changed after the road has been re constructed. This

necessitates a fresh series of patchwork on the roads. Not only

does the rework make the road less usable for a longer time

period, it also costs the government more.

Revitalizing state owned firms
Even though the state owned firms are not directly a part of

government's administrative machinery, re-vitalizing such

organizations is an important part of reinventing the government

set up. Some of the ways of achieving this are listed below:

• Reduce fixed pay and add performance based pay

• Introduce labor reforms that allow for flexibility in

shedding non-performers and hiring as per the needs of the

organizations, through simple process. Currently, in most

countries, it is next to impossible to lay off a government

employee even if he is a non-performer. This breeds an

unhealthy sense of security among government employees and

translates to a lackadaisical attitude towards the job.

• Introduce regulation that bans strikes by government

departments especially in areas of essential services. I

know first hand how it feels when the electricity of entire

city is cut off or the broadband service is disrupted due

to a strike by the electricity & the telecommunications
departments, respectively. Such service disruptions do not

just affect ordinary consumers but they affect the

functioning of critical infrastructure such as airports and

hospitals. This also has a severe negative impact on a

country's image.

• Cross leverage firms in the public sector to improve asset

utilization, remove redundancies, increase work variety

(and hence motivation of employees) and ultimately improve

the return on government's equity (ROGE). Cross leveraging

is discussed in detail later.

• Shift all work flow processes to IT systems – for quick,

error-free, paper less work

• All project accountabilities may be made public by

publishing project details on the Internet

• Upgrade skills of employees every year through mandatory

corporate training courses

State owned organizations that can be revitalized using the

above measures, include:

• Post Office

• Railways

• Non Banking Financial Institutions (NBFIs)

• Hospitals

• Police

• Government Schools

• Government Colleges

• Vocational training Centers

• Scientific research organizations

• Industrial & Agricultural Equipment Manufacturer

• Food processors

Cross Leveraging

Government organizations such as public sector banks, Non

banking financial institutions (insurance companies, pension

funds), post office, railways, government hospitals, police,

government schools/colleges, scientific research organizations

and vocational training colleges should be cross leveraged, by

utilizing each other's distribution network/reach, co-branding

and allowing transfer of employees across organizations.

Cross leveraging by firms may include:

• utilizing the network of other organizations for

distribution of products/services and for communicating

with potential customers. For example, a Post Office

network could be used to sell/distribute insurance or other

financial products.

• allowing personnel skills, knowledge and experience in one

firm to be transferred to another through deputations and

transfers

• having access to a common marketing database (client

database). For example, the electricity, water and phone

departments could use a common (shared) customer database

and integrate their billing and CRM processes. This would

lower their costs of operation as well as benefit the

customers by reducing the number of interaction points.

• collaborating on projects (and using technology as an

enabler). For example, government's telecommunications and

power related organizations could jointly develop

technology to transmit data and electricity cheaply, over

the power lines.

As an example, the Post Office can

• distribute Financial products of public sector banks and

NBFCs (insurance, auto loans, equipment loans,

microfinance)

• market FMCG (Fast Moving consumer Goods)

• distribute and collect enrollment forms for schools,

colleges and vocational training colleges

• provide intelligence to local police

• administer market research surveys

• disseminate information on epidemic in other parts of the

country

• disseminate information on preventive healthcare

• disseminate adult literacy kits

State owned NBFIs could:

• manage financial assets for other government organizations

• provide venture capital for government's research

organizations

Railways could be used for:

• Food balancing: Railways can help to transport food to

shortage areas by receiving real time information. This can

significantly reduce storage costs and wastages.

• Mobile healthcare: Railways can be used to provide mobile

healthcare in the remotest parts of the country. This helps

to avoid setting up a namesake health center in a remote

part which is merely a cost center for the government and

is exploited by the officers in charge of funding the

health center.

Government Colleges and Vocational colleges may have arrangement

with Public Sector organizations for internships of their

students.

15
Re Branding the Government
“Customers must recognize that you stand for something.”
Howard Schultz
Founder, Starbucks

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